


Vmeste

by daasvedanya



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: F/M, RUSSIAN MARRIEDS
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-09
Updated: 2013-08-09
Packaged: 2017-12-22 23:33:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/919343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daasvedanya/pseuds/daasvedanya
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"She discovered that Aleksis was very fond of reading; he was far cleverer than he allowed people to believe." </p><p>Snippets from their relationship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Vmeste

“Again!”

Aleksis stepped up to the mat. It was _sochelnik_ , Christmas Eve. He gripped the handle of the sabre in his hand and looked around the combat room. He had been here for nearly nine hours. The _kaiju_ did not take holidays, and so neither did they. This Shatterdome, in Vladivostok, had only been open less than a month and needed to be fully operational as soon as possible. Aleksis understood; he had been trained to understand.

He wiped his brow, and prepared.

The other soldier was lying flat on his back in moments.

When they were dismissed, Aleksis had only to look at their commanding officer, lips in a straight line, pursed and tight, to know she wanted a word. She stood almost a foot and a half shorter than him, but her raised chin and narrowed eyes said otherwise. “You showed promise in your class, Kaidonovsky. Your fellow soldiers do not deserve your aggression, _they_ do.” She did not need to specify who _they_ were. “You will never be drift compatible otherwise, and I want to see you as a ranger. I want to see you in that _jaeger_. Am I clear?”

“ _Da_.”

She walked away without another word. He gritted his teeth. He tasted blood.

 

 

It was the day he met Sasha. New recruits were coming in, the first _jaeger_ was almost ready, and there was a chance Aleksis Kaidonovsky might not become a ranger. His inability to allow himself the chance to become compatible with someone only made him more reckless in the combat room. And he was fully conscious of the fact that it was entirely on him.

When Sasha approached, he sighed. Despite being seven years her junior, he towered over her even from opposite ends of the mat. It was something he had gotten used to from a young age. He expected another hasty trial, and scowl from his commanding officer. It was all he could do not to trip over his own feet when she parried his thrust.

Where every other solider — _partner_ — had fumbled under his aggression, she channeled it, enveloped it into her own style. They ended in a lock, and she felt the heat radiating off of him. He panted, and looked down at her, her startling bright hair and rouge lips. She was fierce, but stable — stable enough for him. They were compatible.

 

 

The first time they drifted, his mind burned. He saw memories from her life — familiar streets of Moscow, sweet dishes of _syrniki_ , a dog nipping at her feet — and though he still did not know her, he felt at peace with her. They moved together, though not without difficulty, as he found it frustratingly terrifying to give up his own memories. Once they had let each other in, they were told, it was one of the strongest neural handshakes seen yet.

“What kind of name is Aleksis?”

He looked down at her. They may have been drift compatible, but they hadn’t established their own connection. “Not impressed with our names?”

There was a glint in her eyes, and she trembled slightly. She recalled the image of him lying on a dirty rug as a child, crying. “It’s not the bastardization of your name that makes us compatible. But you are going to get us killed if you don’t learn to control yourself out there.” She snarled slightly.

He knew what she was talking about, and that she was right. Still he couldn’t help bristling.

 

 

He choked on his own spit when his back hit the mat. Sasha had a knee digging into his chest, and a tired expression on her face. Their commanding officers had long since left, but Aleksis had insisted they continue training. Sasha hadn’t been opposed.

He shoved her away roughly and quickly got back to his feet.

“I’m not your enemy,” she reminded him. They went again, and this time when she had him on his back, she pressed her foot against his throat. Before he could move to grab her ankle, she was sitting on his chest, legs tucked into his sides. She was swift. “Why are you doing this?”

His chest heaved beneath her, harboring power and strength that could overturn her in a second. He remained still, glaring up at her. “Because I am strong. I was not strong enough before.”

“Before what?” He pressed his lips together in muted silence. She sneered. “Oh, Aleksis,” she rarely used his name. “You are just a boy.”

And she was kissing him, sucking and biting down on his lip so hard he thought she would draw blood. But the smear on his lips was only her lipstick. He grabbed her hair roughly in his hand and yanked her head away. His eyes were blazing. He didn’t know how many moments passed before they were kissing again, teeth colliding and nostrils flaring. Her skin was softer than he had been expecting and his fingers left marks.

They slept alone that night.

 

 

He was in the middle of a meal when the alarm blared throughout the Shatterdome. It was his first _kaiju_. Abandoning his food, he ran to his station and saw Sasha walking that way as well. He felt the exhilaration bubbling in the pit of his stomach. He looked at his partner and saw the same determined look on her face.

“Neural handshake is stable.”

He closed his eyes and saw her in a classroom, an older boy pushing her down —

“Aleksis!”

He opened his eyes suddenly and looked over. Their eyes locked, and he was centered again. He felt her inside his mind, soothing and anchoring him. She stepped forward, and so did he. _Cherno Alpha_ broke the surface of the water as the _kaiju_ swam towards them. They swung up at the same time, missed, turned to grab the tentacle that had tried to latch on. Aleksis felt his heart racing, thought he could hear Sasha’s doing the same.

As they sustained a hit, the wind was knocked out of him. He gasped for oxygen and each gulp was motivation. Their attacks were relentless. The _kaiju_ screeched and they, in turn, roared back.

Afterwards he was sore, so Sasha attended to his muscles. It was the first time they slept together. He was gentle, but intense, and she panted his name into his ear every time his hips met hers. She buried her fingers in his dark hair, clutching his head against her neck. She could feel his body quake and her legs scrambled around his waist, aching to be closer, arching against him as she rode out her orgasm.

She laid spent atop him and pressed her rouge lips to his chest. “My _nežnyj medved’_.”

 

 

They were often found together after that first battle; their personal connection had been established. He would get their meals for them, and they both enjoyed walks in the bitter Russian winter that always leisurely took its time turning into spring, returning to the Shatterdome with flushed cheeks and blue lips (that they later took care of privately).

She discovered that Aleksis was very fond of reading; he was far cleverer than he allowed people to believe. There were many times when she stepped into his quarters and found him lying in bed reading. He told her how books had been an escape for him after his mother’s death.

“But reading wasn’t strong,” he explained, and she knew not to press.

Often it was enough just to be together. He didn’t say much, talking didn’t come as easy to him, and so she knew when he did, all she needed to do was listen. But she found it was just as meaningful when he welcomed her to lie against him while he reading, just letting her listen to him breathe.

It was one of those evenings when she murmured, “We should do something about your hair.”

“Is there something the matter with it?” He flipped a page.

She pushed herself up and ran her fingers over his beard, relishing in the way it scratched against her skin. “No,” she smiled coyly, a side of her he didn’t believe until she granted him access to it. She leaned forward, and he felt her lips ghosting the shell of his ear. “It could just be better.”

No one was surprised when the next day the co-pilots of _Cherno Alpha_ had matching hair, and that Aleksis wore it with pride.

 

 

She woke up one morning and decided to wear one of his rings. He had so many it was difficult finding one that fit. Eventually one of his smallest slipped neatly on to her middle finger. She marveled at it and smiled. When he rolled over and saw her wearing it, she quickly clutched her hand to her chest and silenced him with a kiss. He sighed and relented.

It continued for several weeks, she rifled through the rings and rotated between several that fit her, each time with a smug look on her face.

“I have something for you.” His boots crunched in the snow.

“You’re getting sentimental, Aleksis.” His name had become her little joke.

“Hardly,” he began gruffly. “I’m getting tired of you stealing my rings.” He fished a hand into one of the many pockets of his coat and pulled out a silver ring. “Now you don’t have to.”

She grabbed it from him delightedly and moved to put it on her middle finger, the one she always wore one of his rings on but he made a noise of protest. She looked up, mildly annoyed. He raised his left hand and wiggled his ring finger at her. Screwing up her brow, she moved to do that but stopped as the metal hit her finger and looked back up at him, her big bear. The cold enveloped them comfortably and he stepped forward, embracing her hands with his. She looked down at them and smiled, a private smile meant only for him. He returned it, and slipped the ring on her finger.

 

 

They became renowned. They were three years strong without a breach in the wall. Every day their piloting skills increased, every day they grew used to being married. But every day wasn’t easy, not every day was a victory.

It was one of the most brutal _kaiju_ attacks they had faced, a new category three. They were nearing on eighteen hours in their neural handshake and fatigue had set in long ago. Still, they were Russian; they did not back down. When the monster finally came down, Aleksis nearly collapsed in the _jaeger_ then and there. He stumbled out of his suit and doctors were immediately clamoring and closing in on them. He pushed them away with a swoop of his arm and wiped the blood from his nose. He was uncoordinated, his eyes unfocused.

Sasha crashed abruptly into his side and her eyes were bloodshot. She grabbed at his shoulder, for balance rather than affection. But she, too, he pushed away, walking brusquely away with long, awkward strides.

It was November, and not nearly as cold as he wanted it to be. Still, he gasped in the air and staggered to a nearby snow bank. Hastily he scooped up snow and let it burn against his bare hands. He hissed. He needed to feel something she could not; he needed to unlink his soul. Collapsing into the snow, he soaked in his surroundings, the feeling of being alone, and though he could not tell, he cried.

He wandered the compound for the next several hours before returning to their quarters. Sasha was hunched on the bed. She had more color than before, but not all. Closing the door behind him, his jaw tightened when he looked at her. Words hung unspoken for several moments until:

“I could not…”

She shook her head. “Neither could I. I needed to breathe… from my own lungs.”

He nodded and approached the bed, gingerly sitting beside her. He hesitated before resting one of his hands on hers. His skin was rough, but familiar, comforting, something she had been sick of in the past several hours and now missed. She stretched out, giving him space, beckoning him closer and he went, as he always would with her. They spoke quietly that night, because they could not bear to understand each other’s thoughts, and slept close.

**Author's Note:**

> vmeste: together  
> syrniki: fried quark pancakes with various toppings.  
> nežnyj medved’: gentle bear
> 
> Thank you to JoAnn and Anna for reading it over for me! These two are really so much fun to write. :) As a note, I think drifting can eventually bring you closer to your co-pilot, but no matter how close you may be, I think 18 hours is a LOT to sustain and I wanted to explore the idea that maybe it has negative side-effects.


End file.
